"Alright, class, enough chit-chat. I know we all had a good weekend, but now let’s get out our books and get started with today’s lesson." Miss Cheerilee spoke to the class. It was a regular old Monday morning in Ponyville, and most of the little colts and fillies wished they could be at home instead of at school. Well, except one of them, who was in her usual seat in the second desk row.
Diamond Tiara wanted to be ANYWHERE but home right now. Ever since Filthy Rich had made the deal with Rarity, she wanted to stay out as much as possible so she wouldn’t risk getting in his way. In fact, she had already made plans to go to the bowling alley with Twist after school.
As with most of her family issues, and with a little reminder from Spoiled Rich that morning before she left the house, Diamond Tiara was keeping her lips shut about it, even to her best friend Silver Spoon. Of course, everyone knew about the extra work Filthy had given Rarity, and were shooting the Spoiled filly looks from all across the room, especially Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.
So, as the purple mare drew on the chalkboard and talked on and on about the weather factory in Cloudsdale, Diamond Tiara began daydreaming about her wonderful plan: to spend all of her father's money when he wasn’t looking. She had written up a lost on all the things she wanted most but was never allowed to have. She was right in the middle of a dream about swimming in a giant pool of chocolate sauce when she was interrupted by a friendly tap on the shoulder. She looked over and saw Scootaloo looking at her with concern.
"Ugh, what do you want?" Diamond asked impatiently. "Uh, I sorta need to talk to you outside, Ti, if it’s okay." She gestured towards Miss Cheerilee, who was impatiently tapping her front hoof. "Oh, fine. But it better be quick.” She went with Scootaloo outside the door, muttering to her "And don’t call me 'Ti', you cripple..."
When they were outside, Diamond Tiara looked at Scootaloo, annoyed that she was being kept from thinking about her plan. "What is it, Scootaloo? Don’t tell me you just want to have another chat about the Wonderbolts." Scootaloo shrugged shyly. "Well, if I’m being honest, I just REALLY don’t want to be in the room while Cheerilee talks about where the rainbows in the factory are made."
"Whatever. Can I just get back to my daydreams about things that YOU could never afford?" Diamond Tiara growled. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I kinda know about all that. It’s sort of a gut feeling... and because you were kind of mumbling back there."
Diamond Tiara looked embarrassed. "Well, it’s none of your business! And anyways, I’m just a filly using her imagination with what she HAS! What’s wrong with that?" Scootaloo reaches over and placed a comforting hoof on her friends shoulder. "Hey, it’s okay to talk about this kind of stuff, you-."
"What kind of stuff?" Apple Bloom asked, as she came around to the side of the building where they were. It was recess now, and the kids were pouring out of the building to get to their favourite playground equipment first. The country filly had decided to investigate what the hell the two were talking about back there. Sweetie Belle was with her as well.
"Hey, what is this, Everybody Pay Attention To Diamond Tiara Day?" She huffed angrily.
"No, actually, you made that the last Wednesday of the month, remember?" Sweetie Belle reminded her.
"Oh, right.” Diamond Tiara said, and sighed. "You three obviously know about what my father is doing to Rarity. I’m just starting to think he’s getting annoying."
"I know. Rarity was up both nights over the weekend. She hasn’t sewn that much since the Friendship Festival. She can’t handle that kind of extra work. He’s just such an asshole!" Sweetie Belle commented, and she gasped and quickly clamped a hoof over her mouth. "Ooh, sorry! I’d probably get grounded for saying something so un-ladylike." Diamond Tiara shook her head. "No, no, it’s fine. He deserves it."
"Yeah. He was the one who made Applejack tell all those lies when she was a youngin' and put the whole family in the hospital." Apple Bloom muttered. "Trust me, it’s a long story."
"Thant’s nothing! Rainbow Dash says he’s always in Spitfire's office, making deals with her, and they’re never good." Scootaloo said. " Like this one time, they lost all their smoke bombs to him and had to improvise with shampoo. On the bright side, nopony in the audience needed a bath for a week."
Diamond Tiara was just about to ask the CMC's for help, but she caught herself. Am I really going to ask these losers for help? They might screw up and I’d probably get grounded and beaten. Maybe my allowance would get cut in half. I can’t get by on just one thousand bits a week! Then she remembered what was in the line if she allowed this to keep going, and took a deep breath. "Alright, you morons. Listen up..."
Diamond Tiara told the fillies all about her secret plan to spend her father's money so he wouldn’t be able to boss around any more ponies. She expected them to laugh in her face, but instead they surprised her. "Hey, that sounds like a great idea!" Scootaloo said, fluttering her wings excitedly. "Yeah. We could give that gosh-darn bully what he deserves. 'Sides, it could help benefit the farm. Granny Smith could use one of those electric massage chairs for her achin' back."
Diamond Tiara laughed, and then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Okay, but we have to be sneaky about it. Don’t go boasting about to your sisters or Princess Twilight." The three nodded and began crossing their hooves across their chests. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye..." They chanted, and they all began laughing as the bell rang.
After school let out, the four trotted quickly to the Rich family mansion. "Mother and Father shouldn't be home right now." Diamond said. "Yeah, they’re probably out yelling at Rarity." Sweetie Belle seethed gritting her teeth. "'Oh Rarity, this is all wrong. I said seven gazillion GREEN diamonds on this dress, not 8 million red ones! How else am I to wear a dress that reflects my personality?'" Apple Bloom said, doing her best attempt at mimicking Spoiled Rich to lighten the mood, which worked as Sweetie Belle let out a soft giggle.
They slowly made their way up to the master bedroom. "Woah!” The Crusaders gawked at how stupendously amazing the room was. The bed was made entirely out of gold, with a jewel-embedded mattress and pillows as bright as diamonds themselves. Above the bed hung multiple pictures of Filthy and Spoiled playing golf with the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia. The rest of the room was quite hard to make out, as almost every square inch of the floor was taken up by large piles of bits, one heap of which was covered in a sticky white substance. "Careful. That’s the one they have sex on." Diamond Tiara nonchalantly warned.
"Oookay. So besides that, this place is amazing!" Sweetie Belle said, wondering if she was even worthy of stepping inside the room. "And I’ve been in Canterlot Castle!"
Sweetie reached for a single bit, but her hoof was swatted away by Scootaloo. "This place isn’t amazing, it’s awful!" She pointed at a large painting of Filthy Rich shaking hooves with the delegates from Saddle Arabia. "Because HE sleeps in here! Amongst all this money. This rich... yellow... endless money..." She started to zone out but shook her head quickly to bring herself back. "So, what now?"
"Now," Diamond Tiara said as she grabbed a large pile of bits in her arms and looked at her smiling reflection in them. "Lets go shopping."